A painting in the Canterbury colours on a wall in the Christchurch suburb of Parklands has to be removed. Photo / George Heard
A painting in the Canterbury colours on a wall in the Christchurch suburb of Parklands has to be removed. Photo / George Heard
A Canterbury family are fighting Orion’s plan to paint over a cherished mural on their property.
The mural, painted by Chris Musson’s father 25 years ago, features Canterbury’s colours and is beloved by the community.
Electricity company Orion cites maintenance and asset protection for the decision, but Musson argues it’s not graffiti.
A proud Canterbury family are fighting electricity company Orion after they were told a beloved and iconic mural would be painted over.
The mural on an Orion-owned substation on their property has been a feature in family weddings, birthdays and rugby match parties.
Chris Musson said the painted wall has been a treasured trademark since his dad painted it red and black about 25 years ago as a project to represent Canterbury.
“Grizz Wyllie would be turning in his grave! It’s just ridiculous.”
Musson said an Orion representative turned up to say the company would be painting over the wall because it “doesn’t meet their criteria any more”.
“He was like a robot, he kept saying, ‘I can’t comment, we’re protecting that asset’,” Musson said.
The wall, which features Canterbury’s colours and the words “our colours” and “our place”, has been cherished by the Parklands community for decades, Musson said.
Chris Musson's wedding, 2010.
“It was painted years ago as part of a Canterbury Draught [beer] competitionwhich dad actually won," Musson said.
“Every tradie that has ever come up to do work on mum and dad’s house have come back, brought their kids and got a photo with it, we’ve never ever had any negative stuff about it at all.”
The wall is situated down a private lane, with only three houses nearby, which Musson said makes Orion’s argument even more frustrating.
“It’s only us and one of our neighbours of 30 years that can see it, it’s not public facing, and it’s not like it’s an eyesore, it’s been painted really well,” Musson said.
A wall painted in the Canterbury colours is set to be removed. Photo / George Heard
An Orion spokesperson said, “We have a low tolerance for unapproved graffiti or art on our assets and have an ongoing maintenance programme for over 150,000 above-ground assets on our network.”
Musson said there’s a big difference between graffiti and their family mural.
“Dad’s done it really neat and the letters are spaced out correctly, it’s just bang on,” he said.
Orion said the mural was flagged to them by a contractor as part of its “standard lifecycle maintenance inspections”.
“We are currently in discussions with the owner of the adjacent property.”
Musson said painting over the wall would cost thousands of dollars anyway.
“It just feels like a big guy versus the little guy type situation.”
